


The Future Dead

by eponine119



Category: Lost
Genre: Drabble, Drabble Collection, F/M, Ficlet, Gen, M/M, Miles & Charlotte & Daniel friendship, Miles & Juliet friendship, One-Sided Attraction, Reference to Canonical Character Death, background Sawyer/Juliet, lost squee, science team - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-13
Updated: 2021-02-18
Packaged: 2021-03-12 18:47:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 15
Words: 2,365
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29389353
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/eponine119/pseuds/eponine119
Summary: A collection of unrelated drabbles/ficlets that each feature Miles
Relationships: Claire Littleton/Miles Straume, James "Sawyer" Ford/Miles Straume, Naomi Dorrit/Miles Straume
Comments: 2
Kudos: 9





	1. Miles and Rose, oatmeal

**Author's Note:**

> Sometimes, in the midst of writing longer fics, I wanted to write something short, where every word counts, so I wrote some drabbles. A lot of drabbles. These are new, but many of these were written for prompts from the 2009 and 2010 Lost Squee Fic Battle on Livejournal. The Fic Battle posts are gone now (which I am sad about), but the prompts posts are still up on the Wayback Machine. 
> 
> Chapter titles will have the characters/pairing and prompt and will serve as an index so you can find what you're here for.

Miles and Rose, oatmeal  
June 12, 2020  
drabble

It's been in the pot, growing stickier, for days. Plain, no sugar. 

He's hungry for something that isn't fruit. Or just hungry. 

Miles hangs around the kitchen, waiting for his moment. He knows he's not welcome, not one of them. He's not sure when he started to care. 

The bowl is already in his hand when she sees him and in spite of himself, he freezes. “It's okay,” she says. “You can have some.” 

She yelled at him about the peanuts, and he knew why. She wasn't planning on leaving.

He sets down the bowl. He doesn't want it anymore. 

(end)


	2. Journal, Miles/Daniel's journal

Journal   
108 words  
June 15, 2020

The book tumbles from the backpack. Miles opens his mouth to call out. He feels its weight and rethinks. 

Freighter's got hidden places to read. Pulling up his hoodie to make himself invisible, he devours the pages and the secrets within. 

They don't make much sense. 

Love from mother.  
Eloise the rat.  
Dharma.  
Desmond is my constant... whatever.   
A certain blue-eyed redhead.   
He's got it bad, if he ever knew what to do with it. 

Words don't solve the mysteries that fascinate him – the tie, messy head, skinny arms. 

It'll be found, so Miles abandons it. Not long after, it's back in Daniel's hands, his unsuspecting, constant companion. 

(end)


	3. Juliet & Miles, hopeless

Juliet/Miles, hopeless  
June 15, 2020  
drabble

He's not sure Jim knows she still comes out to the dock. (Is there anything Jim doesn't know?) 

He usually heads back when she starts to cry. (Maybe she comes here to be alone.)

“Sit down, Miles,” she says, without turning her head. He skulks from the shadows. Her eyes meet his. “You're not exactly stealthy.” 

They sit shoulder to shoulder. 

“You think we'll ever get back?” He throws rocks, making ripples in the black water. 

“No.” 

“Me either.” The next rock makes a splash. “He does.” 

“He's an optimist.” 

“Ha.” 

They match; they're not. There's nothing more to say.

(end)


	4. Miles, a good deed

Miles, a good deed  
June 20, 2020  
drabble

“You need a hand? I'll take him.” 

Claire looks at Miles strangely. 

“I mean it. Babies like me.” 

She frowns. “I've got him, but thanks.” 

The next day, she's gone and he repeats himself. “I'll take him.” 

Sawyer glares, but stops to rest. His arms are full of squalling infant. 

“Babies like me.”

“They don't know you.” 

“Neither do you,” Miles points out. Sawyer passes Aaron into his arms and the crying stops. Miles shoots Sawyer a sarcastic I told you so look. 

“I ain't gonna say thanks.” 

“So don't.” 

They move on toward the beach, leaving Claire permanently behind. 

(end)


	5. Juliet & Miles, 'hold my hand'

Juliet/Miles, 'hold my hand'  
June 21, 2020  
drabble

“Lara named her baby Miles.” 

“Yep.” 

“Want to talk about it?” 

“Nope.” 

“Okay.” She sits down beside him anyway. She waits. 

“Every time I see her, I think about how it ends. She's in a hospital, hair gone, half-dead. Saying my father died years ago. I should warn her, or – something. But I can't.” 

“Time traveler's curse.” 

He looks at her. 

“Did you hold her hand?” Juliet asks. “When my sister had cancer, I felt helpless. But I could hold her hand.” 

“Yeah.” He looks away. 

“It was enough.” She puts her hand into his then. He accepts it. 

(end)


	6. Miles, family

Miles, family  
July 4, 2020  
drabble

He’s mostly been alone. He wouldn’t call it lonely. It just was. 

Juliet and Jim invite him for Christmas. Jin, too. Miles tries to beg off, but Juliet refuses to hear it. 

He sits at their small table, silverware in hand, feeling alien, like he’s joined the Whos down in Whoville. Juliet carves the turkey. Miles eats seconds.

Jim’s hunched over his plate. Miles meets his eye accidentally, but neither looks away. After that, he doesn’t feel so uncomfortable. He stops trying to leave. 

Who’d think he’d have to end up in the 70s to find something like a family? 

(end)


	7. Miles/Sawyer, to hide with no hood

Miles/Sawyer, to hide with no hood  
July 5, 2020  
drabble

Miles has taken to wearing his hoodie under his Dharma jumpsuit. 

“Two words,” Sawyer says. “Uniform. Policy.” 

“Bite me.” Miles’s eyes roll. 

“Why?” 

“Like it better.” 

Sawyer tugs the crown of the hood, dropping it to Miles’s back. “What’ve you got to hide?” Green eyes find Miles’s. Caught. 

He stares back, telling himself he’s dead inside. No feelings to let show. He’ll just have to get better at it, fast. This hiding, with nothing to hide behind. 

Or he could confess. These feelings. 

Dark blond hair tumbles down into those green eyes. Sawyer doesn’t shake it away. They all hide. 

End


	8. Claire/Miles, 'you're not a ghost'

Claire/Miles, 'you're not a ghost'  
July 5, 2020  
drabble

She talks to him before he sees her. Soft voice, funny accent. “Where’ve all the people gone?” 

It’s something they would say. The dead. 

She appears from the trees. Tiny, pale, blond, beautiful. He’s a couple inches taller than her. Just the right size. 

She kisses him, her mouth opening under his, hair like silk under his fingers. Her pale blue irises are ringed in black. “You’re not a ghost.” 

“How could you tell?” 

“Ghosts don’t kiss like that.” He wipes his mouth with the back of his hand. He doesn’t know where she’s going, but he’ll follow her anywhere. 

End


	9. Miles/Sawyer, sarcasm

Miles/Sawyer, sarcasm  
August 2, 2020  
drabble

“She asked me why I'm such a sarcastic bastard.” 

Miles scoffs. “Like she has room to talk.” 

“You hear what I'm sayin',” Sawyer upends the beer can, tosses it in the growing pile of empties and then burps. 

“Why are you?”

“Why are you?” Sawyer shoots back with a snarky look. 

“Same reason she is. Anger. Hurts less,” Miles confesses. He should put the beer down. He's gotta be drunk to be saying this to Jim. Even when he knows Jim understands. 

“You think... she's hurt?” Jim sounds amazed. 

“Duh.” More sarcasm. “Aren't you?”

“Hmph.” He doesn't open another can.

(end)


	10. Miles/Sawyer, this is the day

Miles/Sawyer, this is the day  
August 2, 2020  
drabble

Miles decided, long before he drank all this beer. This was the day he'd tell him. 

Jim's golden in the backyard fire pit's light. Miles doesn't know how long he's felt it, but it's not going away. He doesn't expect Jim to reciprocate, or understand. He still thinks he has to. 

Now. 

But Jim says, “I told her. We were – and it slipped out.” 

Oh. 

“What did she say?” 

“Okay.” 

Miles laughs, because he can see it. Jim confessing his love, and Juliet saying okay. Suddenly it's hilarious, and he tells himself the tears are from laughing so hard. 

(end)


	11. Listening

Listening  
August 16, 2020  
drabble

He really doesn't want to do this, but Jim's boot is in his back, giving him no choice. 

There's pain, god, so much pain. This always hurts him. But she suffered. Bad. He hates being in her head, because she was his friend.

There's white light – the bomb? the afterlife? 

Then the pain's gone. She's happy. She's smiling. She loves James so much. Miles feels the glow of it inside him and he wants to throw up because she's dead and Jim's making him do this. 

“It worked,” he reports. He doesn't know what it means. He never does. 

(end)


	12. Miles/Naomi, code

Miles/Naomi, code  
August 16, 2020  
drabble

No one on the freighter knew about them. Miles probably should have minded, but he liked Naomi enough to tell himself he didn't care. 

Secret romances never end well. 

He doesn't know why he keeps up the lie once she's dead. It wouldn't matter if the Oceanic redshirts on the island knew about them. It doesn't matter that they don't. 

It doesn't bring her back, and he's used to keeping secrets. 

They all had their agendas. 

He watches Dan lose Charlotte; lose his mind over losing Charlotte. Sees how the others treat him. Miles thinks he made the right decision. 

(end)


	13. Charlie/Miles, welcome to craphole island

Charlie/Miles, welcome to craphole island  
August 16, 2020  
drabble

Someone is wailing that horrible song, the one that was popular a couple summers ago that only has two lines. “Make it stop,” Miles mutters, and rolls over, awake now. 

A blond guy sits beside him, drawing on his fingers with a Sharpie. 

Miles groans at the realization this guy is dead. “What,” he says. “Unfinished business? Let's have it.” 

“Tell her the ring is in the crib.” 

“Tell who.” 

The guy just smiles. 

“Listen, pal, I'm not really here to try solve your mysteries --”

“Welcome to craphole island, then, mate. All mystery. No answers.” 

“Thanks a lot.” 

(end)


	14. Miles, anybody out there?

Miles, anybody out there?  
August 17, 2020  
drabble

He follows Claire awhile, in the night, when she takes off into the jungle with her dad. Something's not right about that guy, Miles thinks. He's never seen him before, but then again it's the most inhabited deserted island he's ever seen. 

He's not much of a tracker, especially when it's dark. He was a city kid; kind of hates being outside. He thinks of three point two million slipping through his fingers, makes a wrong turn, and the glow of blond hair is gone. 

“Anybody out there?” he whispers. 

Only the dead answer. He heads back to camp, alone.

(end)


	15. the freighter - ficlet

the freighter  
December 29, 2020  
ficlet

Dan eats alone, fidgeting through his journal. He tugs his hair and whispers to himself, and when he finishes turning the pages, he starts again from the beginning. 

When Keamy rises, Miles's eyes meet Charlotte's from across the small dining room. They both head for Daniel. Charlotte gets there first, and Miles puts his tray down a moment later. He looks up at Keamy. 

“Turn around,” Charlotte orders the soldier, who sneers and gives her a long look, but then he does. Miles and Charlotte both watch as he returns to his gang of mercenaries. They laugh, loudly. 

“I hate bullies,” Miles says. 

“Me too,” Charlotte agrees. They introduce themselves, even though they all know each others' names already – it's not a very big freighter and they've been at sea for a couple of days. 

Miles glances at Daniel, then watches the way Charlotte looks at him. Daniel's looking up at the ceiling, still whispering, something that sounds like an equation. Miles frowns. He doesn't get this guy at all. He starts to say something to Charlotte, but the expression on her face stops him. 

“Daniel, I'm Charlotte,” she says, a little more loudly than is needed. But it breaks through. Daniel comes back to reality and his eyes focus on her. 

“Daniel,” he says, with a smile, which fades when he realizes, “But you knew that.” 

Charlotte nods perkily. “That's Miles.” 

“Hi,” Daniel says, and there's something about his tone that makes Miles feel warm. It's like he's never met anyone before, never said hi. 

“So what's in the book?” Miles asks. 

“Research. Equations. Everything I need to remember.” Daniel shakes his head. “My memory... isn't very good.” 

Miles just nods. “You're the egghead, right?” 

“Physicist, yes,” Daniel confirms. His fingers are flicking through the pages of the book again. Miles sees now it's a leatherbound journal. The covers have the patina of wear, and everything in it is handwritten. 

“I'm an anthropologist,” Charlotte says, like she's rather proud of this fact. 

“Why do we need a physicist and an anthropologist and a bunch of soliders for this thing, is what I want to know,” Miles says. 

“I imagine we'll find out,” Charlotte snaps. Miles likes this about her. She's prickly. 

“Where we're going, it's a very special place,” Daniel says. 

Miles waits for more, but there doesn't seem to be any more. He glances at Charlotte, who's still looking at Daniel. Then he glances back at the soliders, who are eating in their gear, like a bunch of loser showoffs. But Keamy is watching them. He smiles his creepy-ass smile and Miles fights the urge to shiver. He's known too many guys like this, but most of them only had one gun, not several plus knives strapped to various parts of their anatomy. “We should stick together,” Miles suggests. 

Charlotte nods, but he's not really talking to her. He figures she can take care of herself, same as he can. It's Daniel who needs them. Clearly. And doesn't even realize it. Miles isn't sure what he thinks Keamy is going to do, but even if it's just low level push around the geek stuff, he doesn't like it. 

“Maybe we can help,” Charlotte says. Daniel looks at her blankly. “With your memory. Surely there must be something we can do.” 

“It's getting better,” Daniel says. “Slowly. The closer we get to -- to where we're going.” 

“How does that work?” Miles asks, but they ignore him. 

Daniel flips to the back pages of his journal, showing them the scrawl in red and blue ink. “I've been testing myself and tracking the results,” he says. “There's a marked improvement, but it's still, it's not enough. I can't – I can't remember formulas. Bits and pieces, but not the whole, not the whole thing.” 

“That's all right, love,” Charlotte chirps. “We'll help you out. I learned a few things in school. Miles probably did too.” 

“Don't be so sure about that,” Miles mutters, earning him a warning look from Charlotte. 

“Thank you,” Daniel says, and it's so heartfelt and almost desperate that it hurts. 

Miles nods. “Stay away from that Keamy guy,” he advises. “All the soldiers. But him especially.” He glances back toward the other table. It feels like high school, and those are the jocks. This isn't quite what he signed up for, but he figures for the money he's been promised, he'll make it work. 

“What have you been doing to test yourself?” Charlotte asks. “What are your methods?” 

“I've been using cards,” Daniel says, producing a deck from the depths of his backpack. 

“Card games. Who's up for a little poker?” Miles suggests, but it goes ignored again, as Charlotte and Dan begin setting up some kind of memory game. He doesn't mind it, not really, being glared at by the jocks and ignored by the geeks. He's not exactly normal himself, and he doesn't mind being alone with people around him. He's exactly where he belongs. 

End


End file.
